Best Books on CRM – Must Reads

1. “CRM at the Speed of Light, 3e“ is a must-read for executives looking to leverage the latest technologies on the market to reach and retain customers. Learn CRM concepts, discover what tools are available and which ones are suitable for your business, and get practical, expert advice on avoiding common pitfalls. Ensure you have the latest version to reflects latest CRM market changes.

2. The CRM Handbook: A Business Guide to Customer Relationship Management (Addison-Wesley Information Technology Series) by Jill Dyché. “The CRM Handbook is the best textbook for managers on the mechanics of CRM in all phases of its implementation: introducing CRM as a practice & technologies explained in management terms, CRM fundamentals, product selection and internal promotion. The CRM Handbook provides lots of factual information, real company case studies of successful CRM implementation, carefully considered commentary, and reasoned criteria to evaluate CRM products and strategies.

3. “Customer Equity: Building and Managing Relationships As Valuable Assets” by Blattberg, Getz and Thomas. What’s a customer worth? The company that can answer this question precisely is the company with an edge in the customer-based, technology- and information-intensive economy of today. This book provides strategic and practical guidance, as well as precise metrics for evaluating a business more effectively and improving performance by building on the solid foundation of the customer relationship. Includes detailed, how-to chapters on customer retention, add-on selling, customer acquisition, and the balance among the three.

4.Strategic Customer Care: An Evolutionary Approach to Increasing Customer Value and Profitability by S. Brown (Pricewaterhouse Coopers Centre of Excellence – Customer Care) introduces the reader step by step into the evolution an enterprise has to undergo in order to obtain customer loyalty. Backed up with comprehensive and clear exhibits, Brown offers with his book an excellence resource for each student as well as manager dealing with the topic of customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. This book explains 3 stages of customer care: acquiring customers, retaining them through segmentation and management of the relationship, and targeting their most significant marketing efforts to the most profitable segments. Shows companies how to identify where they are in their own evolutionary process. Outlines successes and failures of companies, including Sears, CIBC, AT&T/Matrixx, Kodak, FedEx, and more. (Some adore this book, some don’t.)

5. Customers.com: How to Create a Profitable Business Strategy for the Internet and Beyond by P. Seybold. Targeting both executives and technologists, Seybold’s wealth of info on how to link business to the web and other electronic tools. Her 5 steps to success in EC include : make it easy to do business with you, and redesign your website to suit the customer’s actual buying process. The book includes case studies illustrating her key success factors. It outlines general prescriptions for planning and implementation. While detail about particular sites may be outdated, of more lasting value are the lessons regarding insightful marketing, innovation and good business-sense.